Likelihood of punctures?

[Aerotus]

Hi everyone,

How many miles have you done on your car and how many punctures or slow punctures have you experienced?

Did you notice a higher chance as your tyre tread wore thin?

Has anyone ever successfully used those cans of goo before? What's your story?

Aero

[MRHAPPY62]

Is this your first car ?

[Aerotus]

I've owned several cars before and only once had a slow puncture. But I've never had a car with wheels as small as these. So I'm wondering whether they are more susceptible to puncture damage since I'm going to be leaving the spare tyre at home.

[MRHAPPY62]

wheel size is not a problem, leaving the spare at home could be , the goo stuff is not ideal because most tyre fitters will object to cleaning the mess off before fixing the problem , be it puncture repair or new tyre. never used the stuff but heard that this is the case.

[Aerotus]

wheel size is not a problem, leaving the spare at home could be , the goo stuff is not ideal because most tyre fitters will object to cleaning the mess off before fixing the problem , be it puncture repair or new tyre. never used the stuff but heard that this is the case.

If i punctured a tyre i would just get it replaced outright. I once bought a celica gts which had a slow puncture. Took it to kwikfit and they claimed to have fixed it but it kept losing pressure over time. As long as the goo would help me get back home over a short distance that would be good enough.

[MRHAPPY62]

Why don't you want to carry the spare ? weight at the front is good on our cars .

[Aerotus]

Why don't you want to carry the spare ? weight at the front is good on our cars .

How much better is it though vs having a nice storage space?! I think storage space wins vs some marginally better handling. The handling is already amazing!

[MRHAPPY62]

your choice then bud

[gavsdavs]

Carry the spare - I've tried the goo cans before and haven't managed to get a seal.
They're no more or less likely to get a puncture than anything else.

[novinno]

With the condition of the roads nowadays, I think punctures and wheel rim damage are a distinct possibility.
A puncture late at night, far from home is really not very pleasant when you have no spare to bolt on. Breakdown services will be of no help then either.
Cans of goo might seal a leaky slow puncture, but tears in the tread from a pothole ?

I don't think so.

[jimi]

Cans of goo might seal a leaky slow puncture, but tears in the tread from a pothole ?

I don't think so.

Same goes for a damaged rim/wheel, personally I always go with a spare.
As for small wheels being more liable to punctures MK3 is no more likely to get a puncture than any other car on the road, it has 15" wheels (or 15/16 for the FL cars), the MK1 came with 14" as standard. I thrashed around in Mini's (proper ones) with 10" wheels for many years and never had a puncture, still carried a spare though.

[MR2DI4]

Why don't you want to carry the spare ? weight at the front is good on our cars .

I agree, I carry a full size spare front 15inch with a R888 tyre and the biggest battery that fits in the holder.

Only had one flat tyre my whole life, was a brand new tyre as well. Came out from a dentist visit and noticed it. Usually screws and nails on the road are to blame. Even had a screw go through the multirib belt on a ford focus, made a hell of a noise every time it went over a steel pully.

[shinny]

Punctures are mostly bad luck... I've had three random punctures in my 19 years of driving (excluding two caused by driving or maintenance errors). One was due to an industrial spring left on the road, one was due to a hypodermic needle and one was a mystery. Only once was the tyre worth repairing and I believe I have a tyre place repair it for £10. Is was always worth me carrying a spare for it though.

I understand you're a mk3 owner - you can't have bought the car for practicality anyway. I would think carefully before removing your spare for a little extra storage space. Also bear in mind that your roadside recovery poilicy (if you have one) is likely invalidated if you don't carry a spare if originally supplied with the car.

[carolineasb]

I can't see why you would want to remove the spare wheel? Turn it upside down like others have done to get more storage but still keep the weight as you need at the front end.

If you use that sticky stuff, which doesn't always work, then you can kiss goodbye to your tyre and that's another expense :(